People of Wide Bay Burnett share their views on the Community Development Institute Initiative

May 2024

Creating social change with community members is important, yet community development practices which underpin much of this work is often under-valued. In the Wide Bay – Burnett region, following some initial conversations with individuals, a small group formed and invited Community Development Institute Initiative (CDII)  to be part of a gathering of people who have interest and experience in community development.

People were invited from a range of sectors such as community organisations, social services, health, disabilities, First Nations, local government, housing and business. The host group included Tanya Stevenson and Cate Akaveka (Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre), Steven van Lierop (Bundaberg Regional Council) and Laura Barnes (Collective Change Consulting). Carmel Daveson and Natasha Odgers (CDII) were included in planning and participating in the gathering.

This regional Community Development Gathering, held on Friday 31st May 2024 at the Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre, was full of local examples and insights about community development (CD) from local and regional perspectives. People shared their thoughts and experience of the community development practice. Some perspectives included seeing community development as a “practice rather than a role”, “community-led”, “creating social change”, “enabling people”, “giving space for the people’s power”, having “shared and clear principles and values” with an emphasis on “the impact for people”. Discussions elaborated into what CD in the region looks like now and how people would like to see it in the future.

A shared sense of importance for the community development practice resonated strongly through group discussions. People in the room decided it is time to re-activate the Wide Bay – Burnett CD Network. They also saw that this Network could be a regional voice for two-way dialogue between local citizens and groups with the proposed Community Development Institute. This voice started there and then.

People in the room discussed how a ‘Community Development Institute’ could strengthen and sustain developmental work in the Wide Bay – Burnett region. Some key points raised included:

1.      Increasing access to professional development for both contexts of regular community group volunteers and for CD workers.

2.      Advocacy leading to support for regional CD networks

3.      Sharing learnings of people’s CD practice, “so we’re not reinventing the wheel”.

4.      Future proofing towards a voice for strengthening the future CD workforce.

5.      Including a “regional specialist” within the CDI to build strong regional engagement. “We need people with understanding of the regional contexts”.

6.      Forming clarity of CD roles.

Since this gathering, participants have started to shape the re-formation of the Wide Bay – Burnett Community Development Network, which was identified to be a way to hold two-way communications between the region and CDII. CDII looks forward to further dialogue with this network through the next developmental stages of the Community Development Institute Initiative.